Game Meat Missoula MT

Game meat is fmeat from wild animals. Read on to learn more information on game meat in Missoula, MT and gain access to venison meat, buffalo meat, wild boar meat, ostrich meat, rabbit meat, and elk meat, as well as advice and content on preparing game meat.

A Guide to Butchering Deer

Many deer hunters cringe at the thought of having to butcher and prepare a deer for the freezer. While I am far from an expert at the task, I do know the basics of getting my animal from the field to the freezer. Your first task is to make sure the deer is properly field dressed and cleaned before you leave the kill site. Too many hunters neglect to do a good or safe job of field dressing and that can cause problems for the person doing the meat processing, regardless if it is the hunter or a local butcher.

Your meat must be stored properly following the hunt as well (hang the meat in a cool and dry place). If the weather turns above fifty degrees or so, I always head home earlier than I may have intended to, simply because I don’t want the meat to get too hot and sour. While we have all heard of aging meat to perfection, a process that keeps the meat a few degrees above freezing for a few days, hot weather will ruin it.

If you want to hang your meat, I suggest you keep it in a controlled environment, less than fifty degrees, cool and dry, and that you not hang it for longer than seven days. I have known old timers who would hang meat for longer periods of time, but I don’t think it is necessary. My brother only hangs his deer for five days and his is always tender. Keep in mind, the purpose behind hanging the meat is to let the chemicals that breakdown within the meat (as it ages) assist in tenderizing the meat, and I have never exceeded seven days with any deer I have taken.

The four basic tools used for butchering are simple around the house tools. You will need a good sharp skinning knife, a wet stone to keep the knife sharp, a hacksaw, and perhaps rubber gloves for your hands (and a cutting board of course). The reason I have added rubber gloves to the tools list is for the sake of cleanliness, not necessarily for safety. Some folks don’t like to get blood on their hands and it does make personal cleanup easier (and they can be removed quickly to answer the phone!). But, I don’t like to use gloves because I feel a loss of dexterity, but it could be more of a habit than anything else. I also keep a large trash bag around for tossing trimmed pieces of bloodshot meat and fat. As you process the animal, keep your work area as clean as you can.

Some folks like to have two or three sharp knives available before they start to butcher. Once again my old habits come in, I prefer to use my favorite knife, but I do stop very frequently and touch up the blade to keep it sharp. A dull knife will not only make the job harder, which means more time to complete the job, it is also more dangerous to us, simply because a dull knife can slip or require additional pressure to use. Finally, make sure all of your tools are cleaned well with soap and water before you start.

It is important before you start any butchering that you find out about chronic waste disease (CWD) in the area where you harvested your deer. CWD is widely spread in the three corners a...

Meat Hunts

The origin of hunting is rooted in the gathering of meat. To this day, most hunters are after meat first, antlers second. But the focus of most hunting shows and articles has been on trophy hunting. I’m guilty of that too in my writings. We all love antlers, but I suspect the majority of hunters consider them to just be a nice bonus. Besides, a yearling or two year old buck or bull isn’t likely to be much bigger than an adult female of the same species.

In order to allow myself the luxury of a trophy hunt, I have to first feel like the meat I presently have in the freezer will last me through the rest of the year if I don’t end up harvesting the mature buck or bull that I’m after. I don’t like paying for meat at the grocery store, and thankfully haven’t had to so for quite a while. Paying for meat meant I wasn’t doing a good enough job while hunting. I was spending the money on tags, ammo, gas and everything else, so the least I could do is come home with something. It’s fair to say at least half, if not three quarters of my hunting is more about getting meat than antlers. I’ve gotten a lot savvier about identifying meat hunts the past few years and wanted to pass along a few ideas that you can put to work in your own areas.

To me, a meat hunt is generally an antlerless hunt, but either sex tags should also be considered. If you have an either sex tag and you’re looking for antlers but aren’t willing to take a cow, then you aren’t meat hunting. Meat hunts are typically outside of the regular seasons in a high success situation. Those high success rates are often a product of good visibility and late or early season, pre or post migration type hunts. There are a lot of opportunities to hunt private lands in a damage control situation if you keep your feelers out. Sometimes these hunts are only available to youths, which can be a mixed blessing. I think it’s great to get a kid some success early in life, but it shouldn’t be too easy, lest he expect all hunting to be like that. In other situations, a meat hunt can be an antlerless hunt in a low pressure trophy area during a regular season. As you can see, there are a lot of situations that I might consider a meat hunt.

A meat hunt is not going to be a primitive weapon hunt unless its near an urban or suburban area. It is not a wilderness or high effort hunt. My meat hunts generally require me to be mobile and adaptable to conditions as I see them. The backcountry muzzleloader elk hunts that my group does are definitely not meat hunts. Those are adventure hunts, where getting there is half the experience. At some level, we don’t really want everyone to fill their tag because we’d then have to spend several days packing all of that meat out of there.

As a bachelor, I’d guess my household meat consumption to be somewhere around 150 pounds per year. That’s about 3 to 4 antelope, 2 ...

Venison Meat Care

Author:

Greg Johnson

To ensure good tasting venison, it first starts off with a quick clean shot. Sometimes a bullet or arrow goes errant however if you can make it a quick and clean kill that is the first step. Next immediate field dressing starts the cooling process. Get the chest cavity opened up, the hide off, and bone the meat out depending on how hot/cold the weather is. Only postpone field dressing if you must drag the carcass through dirt, mud, or leaves. Burn off the missed hairs with a propane blowtorch to get all the remaining hair off that you missed when wiping down the carcass. Age your meat 40 degrees or cooler and enjoy your great tasting venison....

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